Disclaimers: I don't own them, I don't have money, JJ can't sue me. It's all in good fun..

Author's note: This is my first "Lost" fic. There's an OC and let me know if she ends up being a Mary Sue. It could end up being several chapters with a blend of Drama and comedy. A Dramedy if you will. Please give it a chance. The song Charlie is singing is, "You'll Accompany Me" By Bob Seger. You might need to suspend reality with this fic a little. BTW I didn't read the spoilers and I came up with the idea three weeks ago, BUT there is some similarities between this and next week's episode. Feedback is always welcomed.

Chapter 1: Love's a Losing Game.

Once again he was alone. Nothing about this situation should have surprised him. He was constantly being disappointed by the people he cared about, and those who didn't disappoint him found a way to disappoint them. His life was about to take a nasty turn, he could see it coming. He had a sixth sense about that sort of thing. He was heading down a dark road which would be nearly impossible to turn back from. He cursed to himself at how cliché he had become. He was a washed-up, former drug addict and everyone hated him. He laughed as he recalled thinking that being on this island was the best thing that had ever happened to him.

Once, he had honestly believed it. He had found someone he cared about and was forming the family he so desperately wanted.

Much faster than he expected, it fell apart. He wanted to blame Mr. Echo, Locke or even Sawyer, but the truth was it was his fault. He screwed it up. His chest clenched. While no one knew his latest sin, it would only be a matter of time.

Everyone hated him. Even Hurley had been avoiding him and that stung.

He sighed deeply and strummed his guitar, barely aware of his surroundings. The shore and the other "lostaways" were a good two miles away, south. He was laying on a bolder which had the potential to jam into his spinal cord if he moved the wrong way. He wasn't comfortable and that's the way he wanted it. He was a bad person and didn't deserve comfort.

He moaned, "Even my self-loathing is pathetic." His fingers instinctively worked the guitar strings. He was switching between a never released Driveshaft song and "In my Life" by the Beatles. A twig snapped. Charlie sprung up. His eyes skimmed the surrounding area, but found nothing to focus on.

Suddenly, he became acutely aware of his situation. He was two miles away from his "friends" on an island covered in super intelligent boars, polar bears, black swirling monsters of doom and well "others". Instantly the thought that came into his mind was, "I'm going to die here and no one will find my body."

The leaves rustled. He looked around for a weapon. Ok, he had his guitar but he would rather die than break that. He held his breath. The brush stopped moving.

Was it gone? Was it simply toying with him? What is it?

Each second lasted an eternity.

He sighed in relief thinking that whatever it was, it was gone. He settled back down on his boulder.

"Hi." A voice rang out.

Charlie sprung back up and his scream echoed back to him. He sounded like a little girl. He blinked a few times in order to understand what he was seeing. A woman, maybe a year or two younger than him, stood beside the rock. "Don't kill me!" He screamed.

She pushed her long, straight, red hair out of her face and cocked one eyebrow, "Why would I do that?"

Charlie's voice cracked, "I don't know. Are you going to eat my soul?"

She pinched the bridge of her nose, getting frustrated, "Not today, Rock Boy." She looked up into the trees, "I'm just here to get what's mine." She cupped her hands around her mouth, "Murray, you get your ass down here right now!"

Charlie stared up at the tree. At first glace he saw nothing, but after further inspection, a young boy's silhouette emerged from the foliage. The young boy called back, "NO!"

The girl screamed, "Get down here now! If I have to come up there, I'll throw you down, kill you and you'll have to explain to your dad why you died!"

Now Charlie cocked his eyebrow with a confused and slightly arrogant smile, "Um, how is he supposed to tell his dad…?"

The girl glowered at the young Brit, "Shut up." "GET. DOWN. HERE. NOW!" she bellowed

"You know you catch more flies with honey." Charlie offered.

"TRAVIS! GET DOWN HERE NOW OR I"LL COVER YOU WITH HONEY AND LET FLIES EAT YOU ALIVE!"

The little boys' eyes grew wide and he started to shimmy down the tree. The girl smiled at Charlie, "Thanks for the help."

Charlie shrugged, "Um, no problem."

"You're one of the survivors of the plane crash, right?" The young woman surmised.

"Yeah, I'm Charlie." He was slightly amazed by how comfortable he was around her. His other encounters with island natives didn't end well.

"Beth. Hey, could you not tell anyone about this. I'm not breaking any rules per se, but still, you know." She shook his hand absentmindedly while watching Murphy make his way down the tree and land in front of her. Her attentions were turned to the boy now, "Come on. Let's get you home."

She grabbed Travis by the hand and started to head toward the woods, "Bye, Charlie." She called back.

"Bye, Beth." He scratched at his head for a few seconds. They disappeared into the darkness of the jungle but their voices lingered in the air.

"I liked his music." said the boy.

"So did I." she agreed and Charlie's stomach flipped.

"Do you think we'll see him again?"

"I don't know, maybe, if he keeps hanging out by that rock." Sure it had been a while since a woman sent him 'signals', but he was pretty sure that was one. She wanted to see him again, or at least that's what he thought.

"Why did he think you were going to eat his soul?"

The last words Charlie heard were, "because he's very silly."

Charlie sat on his rock for a few minutes trying to fully understand what just happened. He was sitting alone in his misery and poof! A woman showed up, screamed at a little boy who had been there the whole time watching him, and left just as fast. She didn't attack him, she didn't yell at him and mostly she didn't seem to hate him in the least. All of this was novel to Charlie. He picked up his guitar and headed back toward the beach in his own little daze.

When he arrived on the beach, he curled into his tent. It seemed so small now. The one he shared with Claire was obviously bigger since three people occupied it. He hated being away from her. It was like his lungs were collapsing on themselves when he thought of her. There would be moments when he would hear Aaron cry: instinct told him to rush to the baby's side, but reason told him to keep away.

His mind had been focused on Claire and Aaron for so long that this interaction in the jungle was a welcomed relief. At the very least, it was a distraction.

Should he tell Jack he met an "other?"

Should he go back tomorrow? Same time? A different time? Some other place maybe?

What would Beth do to him? Beat him? Kill him? Or worst yet, hurt Claire.

Damn, he cursed, he was doing it again, Claire. It was always her. Focus, Charlie. You had a strange and exotic encounter a little while ago. He thought, Stunning women just don't pop out of the trees everyday. But on the other hand weird stuff does happen on this island. He went back to his endless questions.

He knew he shouldn't go back, but if history told him anything, his judgment always seemed to be lacking.

Would he go back to the rock? Yes, if only to give him something to do tomorrow.

He rested his neck on his arms as he lay back and stared at the roof of his tent. He sighed heavily, "What another fine mess he had gotten himself into." He breathed in deeply.

Good God, what was that smell? Rank, dirty, sweaty, he tugged at his shirt, brought it up to his nose and sniffed. It was him. He grabbed his bag and sniffed the rest of his clothes. Same smell. No wonder she left in such a hurry.

Charlie stuck his head out his tent and saw Jack walking up to him, "Hey Charlie, you've got hatch duty tomorrow night, ok?"

Charlie nodded absentmindedly, and looked at the clothes in his tent, "Jack, are you washing your clothes tonight on duty?"

"Sure, why?"

Charlie brightened, reached back into his tent and pulled out a navy blue shirt and some jeans, "Can you throw this in the wash for me?"

Jack looked down at the clothes sadly, then back up at Charlie, "You know, a clean outfit isn't going to get her back." Charlie was taken back by the comment, but Jack continued, "You lied to her. You tried to steal her baby. Give her some time. Wait a month, then I'll help you any way I can." Jack put his hand on Charlie's shoulder in a brotherly fashion. No matter what, Jack looked out for him. He never judged or alienated regardless of what the other survivors said or did. He wished that Liam had taken as good care of him as Jack did.

"No, it's not that. I stink. I need clean clothes."

Jack's serious expression did not change, "Yes, you do." Both men smirked, "Bad". "You stink badly." Jake grabbed the clothes out of Charlie's hand and headed towards the hatch.

Once again Charlie was left alone, but now he didn't feel as empty.

Towards the start of the afternoon Charlie changed into his now clean clothes and headed back to the jungle. No one questioned where he was heading off to; for weeks now he had been traveling alone, why should today be any different?

His rock was in the same place he left it. Of course, it was a three ton boulder, so it shouldn't move around too much. He found himself in the same position he was yesterday, but today he recalled the way Claire turned away from him and looked toward the water. She couldn't even bear to look at him. His fingers strummed an old familiar melody on the guitar. Today was different, today he sang.

"Some people say that love's a losin' game

You start with fire but you lose the flame

The ashes smolder but the warmth's soon gone

You end up cold and lonely on your own"

A voice called out, "Aw, sounds like someone got his heart broken."

Charlie sat up and saw Beth standing in front of him; her hair looked lighter then yesterday, a blend of red and blond, rich and regal looking. (Did she wash it for him?)

"You should hear the rest of the song…it's not about a broken heart." Charlie mused.

"You came back."

He nodded, "so did you, or is there another child hiding in the tree?"

She shook her head, "nope," She stood awkwardly before him, shifting her weight from side.

The silence was deafening. Charlie's heart beat was pounding in his ears. There was so much he wanted to ask this woman, so many things to discuss but the words were stuck in his throat. He fought against his vocal cords and finally spoke, "I was in a band, Drive Shaft, maybe you've hear of it?" He instantly regretted it.

Beth blinked at him in confusion, as her brain tried to process the information, "I've been this island for most of my life…"

"So you've never heard of Drive Shaft."

"No."

A small grin crossed Charlie's face, "Oh we were bigger then The Beatles. HUGE."

Beth rolled her eyes, "I've been on an island, but I'm not stupid."

He frowned, "Oh, well, we went to number four in the US and had several hits in Europe before my brother's drug habit screwed everything up."

She nodded, "Well that sounds more realistic."

Charlie slid down form the boulder and kicked it a little, "So, do you come here often?"

Beth tried to suppress her laugher for as long as she could before it bubbled out of her, "Are you hitting on me?"

Charlie's eyes grew wide and humiliation took over, "Um, badly. I presume."

Beth clenched her stomach as her roars echoed in the jungle. Charlie stood still and stared down at the rock. His ears were burning and his cheeks reddened. "Ok, I get it. You're not into me."

She snorted one last time, "Sorry." She tried to regain her composure, "Sorry, I thought you had a wife."

Now it was Charlie's time to snicker, "What?"

Beth put her hand down on the rock to support her weight, "Your wife, or girlfriend, the blonde."

"Claire?" Emotions exploded inside of him whenever he heard her name. It was worse when he spoke it aloud. He painfully admitted, "She's not my wife or girlfriend. In fact, she doesn't even want to speak to me." He kicked the rock again, this time less playful and more angrily.

Beth's laughter stopped instantly, "Oh, I didn't know. It's been a while since I watched you guys."

"You watched us?" An unsettling feeling washed over Charlie.

Beth waved her hands, "No, not like a creepy stalker way, but as entertainment. I'm fascinated with you people."

"The British?" Charlie joked.

She nudged his shoulder a little. "No. But you guys are the most exciting thing to happen to this island in years. Sometimes I would go down to the beach to watch the show. I call it "Survivor," but mostly I focus on that powder keg of pent up emotions between Sawyer, Jack and Kate. I can't wait for that thing to blow. Oh, and Sun speaking English, didn't see that coming." She smiled, trying to comfort the stranger before her.

A small smirk crossed his face, "Yeah, me either."

"So what happened with Claire?"

"She's mad at me for hiding the fact I hid heroin and I tried to kidnap her baby because I thought it needed to be baptized." His voice was flat, as if he had been replaying this in his head for a few hundred times.

"Were you hallucinating at the time?"

"Yeah, why?"

"That's pretty common here, not the kidnapping part, but the seeing things part."

Bitterness rose in Charlie, "Well, she thinks I'm too dangerous to be anywhere near her or Aaron. She's probably right, I'm evil."

Beth smiled a little, "Charlie, I've lived on this island most of my life, I've seen evil, you're not it. You're just having a bad couple of days." Charlie was about to say thanks, but she interrupted him, "I'm about to make it worse."

Charlie was instantly awake, what was she going to do, hurt him? Kill him?

She sighed deeply and started at her feet, "You guys have been here for nearly three months, normally at four months people start getting sick. You've heard of this, before, right?"

He nodded, "the Crazy French Lady, told Sayid…"

"It starts off as a fever and if it isn't cured during that stage, it will lead to death. It will consume 50 of your population, unless you get help. I know how to cure it, I've survived it myself. When the first person catches the sickness, come find me." She pointed through the jungle, "Over the north peak and in the valley, that's where I'll be. The main guard is Chester and desperately wants to play golf on your course. Tell him you'll trade one day of a tee time if he gets me. We'll need a code. "She clapped her hands, "Isis is coming,' that's what it will be."

"Why?"

"Because it sounds cool." She shook her head.

Charlie's voice was harsh, "Why are you doing this?"

This was the first time her voice became gravely serious, "Because we should have been helping you from the beginning. Maybe if we had, you won't have lost as many lives as you did."

"How can I trust you?"

Beth's green eyes, darkened, "You can't. But I can tell you this. The sickness will strike anyone who has been under physical strain for a long time. The children will be first." She swallowed and looked Charlie in the eye, "Claire and Aaron will be the first to get sick."